Jay Ratliff suffered a sprained knee Thursday and missed Friday's practice.

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IRVING, Texas - While the Cowboys don't think it's a serious injury, a sprained knee for Jay Ratliff has the Pro Bowl defensive tackle listed as questionable for Sunday's game with the Seahawks.

Ratliff sustained the injury in Thursday's practice at Cowboys Stadium when he collided with a lineman. Ratliff did not practice on Friday at Carroll High School in Southlake, but MRI results did not reveal any major damage, head coach Wade Phillips said.

"Jay Ratliff banged his knee basically," Phillips announced in Friday's press conference. "He's got a knee sprain. He did not practice today. He's getting treatment. We think it will get better."

Ratliff had some swelling on Thursday but it appears the Cowboys aren't overly concerned with the injury from a long-term standpoint. But having him against the Seahawks for Sunday's Noon (CST) kickoff is uncertain.

If not, Phillips said that backup defensive tackle Junior Siavii would likely start, but the Cowboys did give Marcus Spears some reps in the middle during practice both Thursday and Friday.

"Junior played well last game and showed a lot of things," Phillips said of Siavii. "He's improved as we've played each game. I think he's ready to play. Of course, Spears can work in there and can do some good things. Because Jay got banged up in practice, we put Spears in there some yesterday and quite a bit today. These are just emergency things, but we had to work on them."

Phillips said Jason Hatcher would likely replace Ratliff on the dime and nickel sub-packages.

But replacing Ratliff is easier said than done, considering the he's having an even better season this year than in 2008 when he made his first Pro Bowl. Through six games, Ratliff has 31 tackles and three sacks, along with a team-high five tackles for loss. He also had a critical field goal block against the Chiefs two weeks ago to keep the score tied in the fourth quarter.

"He's a great player," Phillips said. "He's playing even better this year than he was last year. I still don't know if teams know a lot about him. But he's a great player."

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